“Yes, little one,” Megethos man looked at the video. “This place is neither another dimension, nor another world,” he said, sorrow in his voice. “This is merely the future.”
Q’s mind shattered as the words coursed through him, broken beyond belief.
This planet was Earth.
And the Megethos were humans.
***
3-3
It all makes sense, Q caught his breath.
This planet was Earth. And the Megethos were actually humans. Everything had changed the moment that shockwave came through, from the moment the sky had turned red. What he now knew completely changed his view of who the Megethos were.
“How did all of you…change?” Q asked.
Megethos man turned to him, “Did you see that shockwave?” he asked.
Q nodded, a bit tense.
“That shock wave went through the entire Universe,” he said. “It killed every planet, every star, every single object that could exist,” he turned to the blank wall. “The Earth was the only place that survived. We were prepared enough to actually create and deploy a shield that partially protected us from the entire attack.”
“Partially?” Q asked.
“The shockwave was meant to kill anything it touched,” he said. “But because of our shield, its wavelength was altered and it did something else instead. It mutated us. That’s why we turned into these creatures you now call Megethos. The shockwave mutated us humans into this form.”
“Wait, then the Sun disappeared because-”
“The shockwave evaporated it,” he said. “That shockwave took out everything left in the Universe other than the Earth. That’s why we have no Sun and no stars. They no longer exist. We are but a lonely planet travelling through a lonelier cosmos.”
“Does everyone else know about all of this?”
“The other Megethos you mean?”
Q nodded.
“Most of them do not know,” he shook his head. “The mutation altered their memories and gave them all a clean slate. They no longer remember anything, not where they came from, and definitely not who they are. Their lost memories are the reason none of us speak your language.”
“But you do.”
“I and a few others had our memories left intact,” he said. “Even I do not know why.”
“So you’re not the only one who knows all this?”
“I’m the only living Megethos who knows all this.”
“Ah,” Q said softly. He tried to change topics. “Why did you wage war with the world of the past?”
“We had no other choice,” Megethos man sighed. “The most disastrous effect of the mutation was something you would never actually think of,” he paused. “Immortality.”
“What?” Q’s eyes widened. “You’re all immortal?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “Our cells never break down naturally. Ever. We can only die if we are fatally wounded. Our mutation does not let us die a natural death. It has been more than two million years since we mutated, and yet we are all still alive.”
“Wait, when did the shockwave happen?” he asked.
“I apologize, but it is hard for me to remember the precise date to something that happened so long ago.”
“It’s fine,” Q said. “But you still haven’t told me why you attacked my Universe.”
“I believe you already know the answer,” he said. “We wanted to stop the shock wave from ever happening.”
Q clenched his fists, frustrated that the answer was exactly what he had predicted, an answer that he could not retort to, an answer that he couldn’t condemn.
He looked at the man, who was now casually peeling a purple fruit. “But how in the world did you Megethos attack my Universe if you yourselves are so primitive?”
“More than a million years ago, our mutated race was far different compared to what you see today,” he said, his tone showing he was reminiscing in the memory. “We were highly advanced, and were well equipped to protect ourselves. With nothing else left in our lives, all we could do was make more tech,” he said. “Back then, I was not the only who had memories intact. There were quite a few of us indeed. We soon realized that we could prevent all of this if we just went back into the past and stopped the shock wave from ever happening.”
“Were you in the war?”
“Oh, not at all. I wanted to be in the war, but my team didn’t let me. I was the smartest one of them all and the only one who could construct the time portal, so they wanted me to stay back as their backup. They instead managed to rally together the entire planet and attack your Universe.”
“Wait, but I heard the Megethos nearly took over the Universe. A planet of people were enough to do that?”
“A planet of people full of high class tech,” he smiled. “Why do you think our planet is so barren of anything? It is a desert now, yes, but even then we ravaged the Earth for every bit of material we could find. We invested every last scrap of metal ore in our tech. Seems like a waste now doesn’t it?”
Q remained silent, unable to say anything in reply.
“I was the one who encoded that video onto the walls,” he said. “At one moment, I realized that with all our ore pillaging, this was the last set of machinery we would ever build, and so I came up with a way to encode our most precious information without requiring a machine.”
“You’re the last actual Megethos left,” Q mumbled.
“The last intelligent one,” he said. “The portal that I set up was my last drive for hope. If someone came through, I promised myself I would tell them everything about this world and hope that they saved theirs and in turn, mine.”
A shot of guilt rang through Q. He wants me to go back to my world, he realized.
“What does he mean go back?” Zelph said. “That portal you came through is completely gone. And now there’s no tech left for you to use to go back.”
Q’s eyes widened, realizing Zelph was right. He didn’t know what was more terrifying, that he was supposed to return to that disastrous world of his, or that he couldn’t even go there if he wanted to. He didn't ask the question, scared of what the answer might be.
“Come along now,” Megethos man said and got up. “It is time for us to head back.”
“How?” Q asked, glad to switch the flow of conversation. “It’s not like we can climb back up into the ruins can we?”
Megethos man led him to the edge of the circular platform they were on. “That is our path,” he pointed to the deep drop below them, the winds howling through the hollow darkness.
“Umm, are you sure?” Q asked. “That place seems like-”
Megethos man pushed him off the edge. Q immediately turned around, and saw that he had jumped behind Q as well.
“You thought he was trying to kill you didn’t you?” Zelph said.
“I can’t help it,” he mumbled. “He’s supposed to be our enemy.”
“Yeah yeah,” the AI said. “I’m turning night vision on.”
An orange overlay appeared in Q’s vision, and structures around him came into view. He saw the tunnel widen the deeper they went. Loud crashing noises came from below them, almost as though something liquid were ramming into the walls.
Water, Q realized. He could see the subtle reflections from a river of water storming under the mouth of the tunnel.
“Do not fight the current!” Megethos man yelled from above.
Q crashed into the rapids. The torrents tossed him around, holding him prisoner to their will. He held his breath, letting it direct his path. In moments, the river shifted direction and streamlined itself straight up. He shot upwards and all of a sudden he was no longer in water, but in the air. He landed gently onto solid ground, onto solid stone.
He looked up, and saw that he was back inside the city of Araneer. The river from the ruins was connected to a small spring inside the city.
So this is how they get their water, Q realized. He found it amusing, that there was a treasure trove of
information on the other side of this river, and yet no one could get to it.
“This travel is my favorite part,” Megethos man said, emerging from the spring. He turned to Q, “It is always-” he froze.
“Always what?” Q looked behind him, and immediately froze.
An entire wall to the city had been crushed, the white stones had turned to dust and rubble. Large parts of the city were now razed to the ground, returning back to the desert sand. And in the middle of it all, was that giant, three-headed snake, its body as dark as the night, its eyes glowing like gold, its entire existence destroying everything that it touched.
Apophis.
***
Q couldn’t help but stare in awe at the creature that lay in front of him, at the power a being of the ground possessed.
“It must have left the ruins after we awakened it,” Megethos man said worriedly. “It will destroy the whole city if we don’t do something to stop it,” he cursed. “But I do not have enough tech to attack it.”
Q smiled. “I can take care things.”
“Are you sure you want to reveal it to him?” Zelph asked.
What choice do I have? he asked.
Q focused hard, concentrating his life energy and making it flow into his hands. He threw them into the air, and a brilliant flash of white lightning shot down, striking the snake where it stood.
But that did absolutely nothing. The snake turned in Q’s direction and screeched, its cry rumbling through the air and the ground.
“You just made it angrier,” Zelph sighed.
Thanks, I didn’t realize that, he thought.
“I’ll help you out,” he said. “Don’t freak out.”
Q’s vision suddenly filled with additional stats, each one pointing to different parts of the beast. A target circle appeared around the snake’s head, giving Q the exact angle and force with which to strike it.
“Nice,” he chuckled.
“We do not have any time left, young one,” Megethos man yanked Q by the hand and pulled him away from the beast.
“What are you doing?!” Q yelled, resisting his pull, but the man was far too strong for him.
“The Apophis is the undefeatable beast of the sands,” he said. “We are not strong enough for it.”
“I can beat it!” Q said.
“We do not have the time!” Megethos man’s voice rose.
Q calmed down. “What is that thing anyway? A snake?” he asked just as the man dragged him into the narrower streets.
“A mutated earthworm,” he said, his tone completely serious.
Q couldn’t help feeling amused. Nature sure had its way of messing things up amazingly. The once harmless earthworm was now the prime predator on this mutant planet. Who would have ever predicted that?
“In here,” Megethos man said and pushed Q into one of the houses.
Q immediately realized that he was back in Megethos man’s own house. “Why are we in here?” he asked. “We should be out there fighting the-”
He heard a loud crunch and the walls vibrated once more. Q didn’t need to go outside to know that Apophis had just crushed another part of the city.
“Faster, faster,” Megethos man mumbled as he dusted his walls. A small sheet of sleek, black metal lay embedded behind the desert dust. He put his hands on it, and a familiar beep sounded. The ground rumbled and a section of it opened, revealing a staircase leading to an underground chamber.
“Come along,” Megethos man said and walked right into the darkness.
Q hesitated for a moment but followed him anyway. The air around them turned dusty and smelled almost acidic as they entered an underground chamber. He heard a click from the corner as Megethos man lit up a small lamp and lifted it up.
A rumble rang through the walls again, and dust fell from the ceiling. The Megethos man looked up and back at him. “We haven’t much time left,” he said. He pulled a lever on the wall and a section of the floor opened. A platform rose to the top, carrying a large black box about the side of a closet.
“A lead covering,” Zelph said. “He’s been protecting his tech really well.”
“So how come everything is covered in lead?” Q asked.
The man walked to the box, “I made these things back during the war. My fellow comrades would not appreciate it if they knew I took away tech for myself, so I hid everything inside the lead. That way no one would be able to accidentally find it while running a scan.”
The lead box split into four and each side fell to the ground like a collapsible cardboard box. Inside were glass tubes that sat upon a large cube of pure white.
“What is this thing?” Q asked. “A weapon?”
Megathos man shook his head. “It is the last teleportation device I have left,” he said.
“What?” Q’s eyes widened. “Are you asking me to leave?” he clenched his fists. “You’re asking me to leave while your city is being taken out by Apophis?”
“Araheer’s fate was written the moment Apophis entered it,” he said. “That beast last appeared a hundred thousand years ago. It took my last piece of weaponry to defeat it. We are at a complete loss now.”
“I have enough strength to attack it!” Q said. “I can defeat that beast. I can save you all.”
Megethos man opened a door to the glass tube, “The only way you can save us is by stopping the shockwave, not by defeating Apophis.”
Q grit his teeth, finding it hard to acknowledge that Megethos man was completely right. The snake beast was a small threat compared to what had been going on in their world for the past millions of years.
“Come along then,” Megethos man pointed to the inside of the tube.
“You want me to get inside?” Q asked.
“He wouldn’t be holding the door open otherwise would he?” Zelph said.
Q ignored Zelph and walked into the tube. The walls around him were clean and clear, which was a fresh alternative to being caked with dust.
A massive tremor came from the ceiling, larger than the rest. Larger chunks of rock broke off and fell to the ground.
“Ah,” Megethos man looked up, a certain longing in his voice. “I believe Apophis just took out my house.
“Oh,” Q said quietly, unsure of how to react to that. Sadness somehow seemed like the wrong emotion to display.
“Our time has been cut much shorter,” he said and knelt down to the white cube below the tube.
“Apophis can’t find us here can he?”
“He most certainly can,” he said. “He’s probably too lazy to do it. But he can do it if he wants to. We are not safe from him.”
A small shiver went through Q at the thought of a massive snake finding them underground, in its very own element.
“Alright,” Megethos man said stood up. “You’re ready. The teleporter will take you to the exact spot you jumped into this world from. That’s fine?”
Q nodded.
“Well it’s not like I could change it even if I wanted to,” Megethos man chuckled. He shut the door to the tube, locking Q inside it, and stood about five feet away from the machine.
What now? Q thought.
“I don’t sense any energy signature?” Zelph said. “How is this thing powered?”
Q felt the box below him whir loudly. Five metal arms shot out, each one ending with a sharp needle-like point.
His eyes widened. No, he thought. He can’t be serious.
The needles pierced Megethos man’s body, and he immediately froze, muffling his screams of pain. The tube began to hum, the pitch becoming higher with every second.
“He’s using his life energy to power the machine,” Zelph said, his voice in awe at the event.
Q was too emotional to admire this. He knew what it meant to have one’s life energy taken away. “What are you doing?!” he yelled. “Stop it!”
“I apologize, young one,” he said, his breath heavy, his face contorting with pain. “This is the only way you can go back to where you came from.�
�
“There has to be another way!” Q pleaded. “Don’t do this. Please!”
Megethos man collapsed to the ground, his body weakening. “If there was another way, I would have found it,” he gasped for breath.
Q stayed silent, breathing deeply, trying to calm his emotions. The best way to save him is to stop the shock wave from the past, his mind said.
He took a deep breath and looked right at Megethos man. “I understand,” he said as the machine began to howl louder. “Can you tell me anything at all about the shockwave?” he asked, trying to ignore the man’s sorry state.
“I do not know when or where it will occur,” Megethos man said, trying hard to not yell in pain. “But I remember than a distinct energy source built up for more than ten minutes before the actual shockwave happened.”
“All we have to do is scan for a concentrated energy source,” Zelph said.
Yeah, Q nodded.
The machine started to rumble as it reached full capacity. Q could see the glass walls around him glow brightly. The portal was ready.
Q looked at Megethos man who was hunched on the floor, his body nearly frozen into place. That was what it meant to have one’s life energy sucked out.
All it did was lead to death.
Q controlled his emotions and focused his mind.
“Be well,” Megethos man said, his voice losing its volume.
“I shall,” Q said. “Thank you for all that you have done.”
“And thank you for all that you shall do for us,” he smiled weakly. “What is your name, young one?”
“Q,” he said, a smile under his hood. “My name is Q.”
The machine trembled violently, and Q felt his body vibrate as the teleportation jump neared.
“It was a pleasure to have met you, Q,” Megethos man said, his voice a silent whisper. “My name is Kai.”
***
3-4
Q opened his eyes to a welcoming darkness. He felt a smooth softness below him. He gingerly moved his fingers around and felt a silk-like cloth under his skin. He turned his head and saw Empress Andrea sitting at his bedside, a smile on her face.
The Quest Saga Collection: Books 1 - 5 Page 90